Dublin Institute of Technology should be called a university for a simple reason - it is one, writes DIT head Brian Norton

A decade after being told we were on a "trajectory" to becoming a genuine university, Dublin Institute of Technology has made a fresh application for such designation. Our argument is simple: DIT is not seeking to become a university because it already is one.

DIT is a somewhat unusual university in Irish terms, although not by international standards. Like many universities abroad, it comfortably combines an eclectic mix of craft education, undergraduate and postgraduate learning and research, music performance, innovation and industry links. In most countries, the term "university" would be the only accurate description of the institution DIT has become.

Ireland has a particular system of third-level education, referred to as the binary system, which has successfully served the varied needs of society. Early in the development of this system, there may have been an ill-informed sense that one type of institution was "better" than the other. This notion is dying as the distinctive functions of each type of institution become clearer with time.

For 120 years, from the introduction of technical education in the late 19th century to the building of a knowledge society in the 21st, DIT has, de facto, become a university. This is underlined by the range of programmes offered, by the fact that we have power to award our own degrees, and by the growth in fourth level programmes and research taking place.

Our wish, therefore, is not to become a university; it is to be designated as a university.

In the global context, the term university is not elitist. DIT is not seeking aggrandisement; nor is it heading towards "mission drift": we certainly don't want to distance ourselves from our origins, from key areas where we are often the major national provider, nor, indeed from the many other excellent institutions on the Irish higher-education continuum with whom we collaborate extensively. We are proud of our roots and proud of the way DIT has continued to respond and evolve to meet the ever-changing needs of society.

Our application for university designation is, therefore, not based on any outdated and faintly ridiculous sense of academic snobbery - which, sadly, may remain despite the growing understanding of the binary system. It is because university designation would best allow us to continue to fulfil our mission, both nationally and internationally.

Why? International understanding of what we are is one of the most important reasons. There are enormous opportunities for international academic collaborations, which would be more readily available if institutions outside Ireland know that we are an actual university. There is philanthropic funding more easily available to universities for what we do. While we will retain our multidimensional mission, which ranges from craft education to doctoral research, university designation will enable us better to fulfil that mission in terms of resources and opportunities for learning.

Providing global perspectives for students is crucial. Internationally, an institution of the scale of DIT that has awarded its own degrees for 10 years is a university. Our present situation is anomalous, and the inherent ambiguity a hindrance to unlocking many additional opportunities to collaborate internationally through exchange of students and academics and in joint research. The hindrance is not in DIT's name, but in our designation.

As an illustration, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the very prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology are represented internationally as universities. Thus, there would be no particular need for DIT to change its name upon designation.

The government has sought to double the annual rate of production of PhDs, with a strong emphasis on their being industry-orientated. DIT's degree-awarding powers up to doctoral level, coupled with its industry orientation across disciplines, make it uniquely prepared and strategically focused on making a major contribution to this national priority. University designation would help as, internationally, many PhD scholarship schemes apply only to universities. We need to attract the best international researchers.

An international academic review group, appointed by the Higher Education Authority, concluded in 1998 that DIT was on a "trajectory" to becoming a university in three to five years. It set out a roadmap for achieving that objective. Taking on board the views of that group, DIT has undertaken strategic development across all areas of its provision and its wider activities. Almost a decade later, it has exceeded the targets set by the review and is now seeking appropriate designation.

Currently, more than 21,000 full- and part-time students are enrolled at DIT, from apprenticeship to doctoral level, on career-focused programmes in the arts and media, science and engineering, business and law, tourism and food, technology and the environment.

Many universities worldwide are like DIT. They have led the way in fostering the wider institutional and research diversity that Ireland now requires. The key to becoming a "knowledge island" is for Ireland to enable the largest number of people to be educated to their highest achievable level of attainment - and to do so in an ethos of research and scholarship. In this regard, the national investment in the new DIT city-centre campus at Grangegorman will be pivotal to driving future national prosperity and creativity.

Does Dublin need another university? The answer is that it already has one in DIT - one that is grounded in career-focused third and fourth level education, and informed by leading edge research.

Professor Brian Norton is president of Dublin Institute of Technology